Capital murder charge filed in vehicle crash that left 2 dead

TEXARKANA, Texas -A charge of capital murder has been filed in Bowie County against a man accused of intentionally crashing head-on into a van, killing two young boys in DeKalb, Texas, earlier this month.

Bail has been set at $5 million for Zachary Blaise Salazar by Bowie County Justice of the Peace Nancy Talley.

Salazar, 21, allegedly threatened to wreck his pickup truck as he left his girlfriend's apartment after a verbal argument the night of Jan. 13, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Moments later the girlfriend and her family heard police sirens and traveled to the scene of the crash that took the lives of 3-year-old James Crowley and 7-year-old Riley Burgess at approximately 10:30 p.m.

Witnesses, including a man who was pulling into a nearby fast food restaurant, the driver of the van and other occupants of the van, said Salazar was driving eastbound on U.S. Highway 82 at a high rate of speed with his car's bright lights on.

The driver of the van told officers that when he observed Salazar's pickup truck coming into his westbound lane he attempted to avoid a collision by pulling to the edge of the roadway but "Salazar continued tracking his vehicle until causing the collision," the affidavit states.

At the crime scene, Salazar's girlfriend, who is pregnant with his child, reportedly told investigators that she and Salazar had been arguing via Facebook messenger about their relationship and living arrangements. The girlfriend reported that she and Salazar had only been dating a couple of months when she became pregnant, the affidavit states.

The girlfriend said she blocked Salazar from her Facebook account after he sent her messages threatening to kill himself or someone else. Salazar allegedly showed up uninvited at the girlfriend's apartment about 45 minutes later. When asked to leave by the girlfriend's family, Salazar allegedly said, "F-- it, I'll go wreck," according to the affidavit.

Under Texas law a person may be charged with capital murder if they intentionally kill two or more people during the same criminal episode or in the killing of a person under 10 years of age.

If found guilty of capital murder, Salazar faces life without the possibility of parole or death by lethal injection. He is currently being held in the Bowie County jail.

The case is assigned to 202nd District Judge John Tidwell, who appointed Texarkana lawyer Jeff Harrelson to lead the defense on Friday.

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